


No Mercy - Breath

by TheEmpressAR



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Blood and Violence, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 05:39:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18888271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmpressAR/pseuds/TheEmpressAR
Summary: Miguel gets an unasked for lesson in pain.  It's dished out by the people he never would have thought would administer it.Song for Story:  Breath - Breaking Benjamin





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just something that was pushing its way around my brain today. I wanted to do something nice for @gia-is-online on Tumblr, who said she would like a good WHUMP story with Kreese and Miguel. I hope this is starting off right dear. Let me know if you want MORE!!!

Made by the FANTABULOUS @gia-is-online on Tumblr!  Thanks for letting me showcase it here, M'dear!!

**_I see nothing in your eyes_  
And the more I see the less I like  
Is it over yet  
In my head**

**_  
_**The pungent smell of a cigar permeated the dojo and hit Miguel Diaz in the nose before he fully opened the door.  It was late.  He really had no idea why he was there at this time of night or any real reason.

  
He had gotten a message from Johnny on his phone.  It simply said “Meet me at the dojo, midnight.”  Miguel had a lot of questions of his sensei lately, but he always trusted him, no matter what.  If Sensei told him to jump…he’d still ask…“How high?" 

  
He had to sneak out of his apartment, leaving the sleeping inhabitants none the wiser with only a parting glance back.  He knew he’d be back soon.  He only thought that maybe Johnny had some kind of  covert darkness training to teach him.  He glanced over at Johnny’s apartment and didn’t see any lights on so he figured he must have went ahead.  

  
"At least he could have given me a ride…”  He said to himself.  He walked past the apartments in the shadows and failed to spot Johnny’s newly custom designed charger sitting in the darkness in its usual spot.  

  
“Sensei?”  Miguel said hesitantly from the doorway when he opened it with the key that Johnny let him have.  He always knew he was Johnny’s favored student, as he was his first student.  It was an honor to get the key from him and he always had a thrill of pride when he stuck the key in the lock.  'He trusts me.’

  
The security lights were the only lights on in the building.  They cast the room in dark shadows and an eerie yellow glow.  The hair on the back of Miguel’s neck stood up.  He knew something wasn’t quite right with this whole situation.  He didn’t even think to go through the myriad of questions he should have on his jog over.  

But now they rushed in on him.  'Why did Johnny want him here this late?‘  'Why are all the lights off?’  'What is that smell?’  The answer to the last question floated in front of him just as the tendrils of smoke eased their way from out of the back office.  Johnny’s office.  'Johnny doesn’t smoke…’ The thought nudged at Miguel.  'The only person I know who smokes is….’

“Welcome my boy….I see you finally made it." 

"Uh…(Mr.? Sensei?) Sensei Kreese?”  Miguel settled on the more respectful term.  He barely knew the man…but he didn’t trust him at all.  He hated the way Johnny cow towed to him whenever he was around.  Miguel was a smart kid…not much went unnoticed by him.

“Ah…and he shows respect.  I like that…I LIKE that…" 

Miguel looked back at him,  confused.  "Where’s Sensei Lawrence?  He told me to meet him here.”

“Oh…Sensei Lawrence….well…Your Sensei’s not gonna be showing up here tonight…I’m afraid that was a bit of a ruse on my part." 

"What do you mean….what’s going on?”  Miguel didn’t take his eyes off the man as he began to circle around him…losing himself in the shadows of the room. 

**_I know nothing of your kind_  
And I won’t reveal your evil mind  
Is it over yet  
I can’t wait**

**_  
_**John Kreese ignored the disrespectful yammering of the immigrant boy in front of him.  They were all the same in his eyes.  Ungrateful little pricks that had no right breathing the same air as he did.   The only thing visible from the shadows of where he stood was the red burning glow of his cigar every time he took a pull on it.  He was good at getting his point across with storytelling.  It was a way of pre-conditioning his prey for the kill.

   
“Nocturnal animals have evolved physical traits that let them roam in the dark more effectively. The eyes get bigger and the pupils widen. Owl eyes, for example, are so big that they can’t move in the socket, but their wide pupils help them collect more light. Sight isn’t the only feature nocturnal animals rely on. Some depend on other senses to adapt to the darkness.”

Miguel was trying to train his eyes to pick up the outline of Kreese’s body.  He could see the small circle of red light up every few seconds and he took comfort in knowing at least he still knew the location of the man in the room.  He was trying to think ahead as to how he would get out of this situation without getting hurt.  He was on “red alert”  anytime someone started “monologue-ing”, he knew it never ended well.  "I don’t understand what this has to do with…“ 

"Many nocturnal animals, though not nocturnal birds, have a good sense of smell and often communicate with scent marking. ”  Kreese continued.  He had all the time in the world.  He was moving ever-so-slowly around the boy.  Keeping his voice calm, even, communicative. 

“Bats use extrasensory adaption called echolocation to navigate and find food releasing a high-pitched sound that bounces off objects, including prey.  The echoes tell the bat how far away the objects and prey are.  Some snakes have heat-sensitive sensory receptors that, like echolocation, help them navigate and find prey.  Snakes also use taste to navigate and locate prey.”  Kreese said directly behind Miguel.  In the darkened room it was hard for all of Miguel’s senses to come together at once and determine what he needed.  He was too busy thinking ahead to think in the present.  

“Thanks for the science lesson, but….”  He started but instantly felt the older man’s arm around his throat.  It was all happening so fast.  He couldn’t slither out of the vice grip the man had on him.  Miggy grasped at Kreese’s arm…hitting his other arm as hard as he could with this other hand.  He was gasping and wheezing for breath.  Black dots were dancing in front of his eyes.  He couldn’t breathe.  He couldn’t find a hold to step back and flip the older man.  He thought he had heard the sound of Johnny’s voice telling him what to do, but it was too far away.  "I can’t…” He tried to speak. 

“Shhhh…”  Kreese told him producing a dampened cloth.  He put it to the boy’s face that was starting to turn a dark shade of red.  He held it there until after a moment, Miguel’s limp body was hanging in his arms.  Kreese smiled and took another puff of his cigar.    He hoisted the limp body of Johnny’s number one student over his shoulder and made his way toward the front door of the dojo. 

He left the chloroformed handkerchief on the ground along with Miguel’s key.  He left the building in the darkness of night and carried the boy’s body with him.  

  
**_So sacrifice yourself  
And let me have whats left  
I know that I can find  
The fire in your eyes_ **


	2. Chapter 2

_**This will be all over soon  
Pour salt into the open wound** _

_"Miggy…wake up, Mijo…”_

Miguel moved his head and arms fluidly.  He thought he was sleeping at home in his bed.  He was having a dream of floating on clouds.  It was weird…he had never remembered doing that before.  He was able to move and float and fly free of his body.  It was a calming feeling.  Except for the incessant insistence of his mother that he wake up.  He didn’t feel like going to school today.   He couldn’t make his mouth move. 

 _“MIGUEL!!!  WAKE UP!!”_  His mother screamed loud in his ear.  He could see her desperate and frantic in front of him when he was finally able to crack his eye open.  She looked scared and panicked.  

Miguel gasped and a large bubble of water rose to the surface.  He tried to scream but he felt the water rushing in instead.  He was choking…pushing…fighting his way up.  He saw the surface above him.  So far away.  It was wavering in front of him and he thought he caught the shadowy figure of pair of legs, dangling over the edge.  At least his hands were not bound this time.  He pushed his way forward, trying not to let the fear block his senses.    
He broke the surface of the water.  Gasping and sputtering he choked up water and frantically checking his surroundings.  It was dark.  It was confined. The chloroform had not totally worn off of him and everything was blurry.    It was definitely the pool.  The same pool where Johnny had taken him last year.  In the gymnasium. 

He had no restraints of any kind on him so he was able to tread water without difficulty.  He was trying to catch his breath…still choking on the water that had entered his body.  The weight of the water on his clothes was weighing his body down, but he was still able to stay afloat well enough to try and get to the edge of the pool.

“Congratulations…”  The voice spoke from the darkness of the corners in the room.  He knew the voice.  It belonged to the same person he knew that had brought him here.  Knocked him out…tossed him in the pool…to what…drown him?  Kill him?  This was insane!

“What the hell?!!  I could have drowned you asshole!”  He shouted into the darkness.  He had no more respect for Johnny’s old sensei or whoever the hell he claimed to be.  He had his suspicions from the start.  Now they were crystal clear. 

“What…you didn’t like your wake-up call?”  A  voice said coming from another corner of the room.  Miguel whirled himself around the best he could in the pool and tried to understand what his brain was telling him and that he couldn’t possibly believe to be true.  No…this wasn’t right at all. 

Miguel swam over to the pool ladder and hoisted himself up.  He almost immediately collapsed to the hard concrete surface.  One arm thrown in front of his face, resting in front of him.  He was dizzy and his head was pounding.  The water from his clothes were causing puddles to form around the area and he looked and felt like a fish out of water.  There were chuckles of laughter coming from opposite ends of the room.  Menacing laughter.  He tried to focus his eyes on anything but  the drug was making everything tilt.  He saw a pair of black boots stop in front of his face.  

He could not raise his head to see who was in front of him.  If this was going to wind up being a fight, it was not going to be a fair one.  He struggled to right himself, but every time he tried to lift up he fell back to the ground.  The owner of the boot kicked him in the side, hard,  rolling him over onto his back.  

Miguel was now staring up at the ceiling of the gym.  The pale moonlight was shining through the windows and illuminating only small rectangular patches of the room.  It was eerie but strangely calming as Miguel could only see blurry, unfocused patches of white…fuzzy and shifting.  Two figures came into view standing above him looking down.  Well…at least Miguel knew who the boots belonged to now.  Betrayal washed over him cold and sinister.  He shivered at the feeling coursing his veins.  

“On your feet, Soldier!”  Kreese barked out at Miguel after about another minute of them  all looking at one another.  The two above Miguel determining that he was strong enough to continue and the one staring back up in utter disbelief at the situation he was finding himself in.  He shook his head at Kreese.  If he was going to go through with this.  He wasn’t going to cooperate.  He had decided he was going to resist at every turn possible.  He was not going to give them what they wanted.  

“He told you to GET UP!”  Another boot to the ribs.  

“Fuck…Damn it, ELI!  Why are you DOING this?!”  Miguel winced out and grabbed his side.  He wheezed at the pain in his side and the pain in his head wouldn’t let him form quick sentences especially since he couldn’t put a thought in the same head that made any sense to him. 

“Get him up…”  Kreese said ominously still sucking on the smelly cigar, making Miguel nauseous on top of everything else.  Could he just puke and distract them and get the hell outta there?

He didn’t have time to dwell on those thoughts as he felt himself being roughly picked up by his arm pits and forced to stand up in front of the pair.  He wobbled hard, putting the heel of his hand to his eye trying to rub away the chlorine and dizziness.  

Kreese nodded once at the boy beside him and Miguel was soon met with a backhand across the face.  Blood poured freely from his nose and he stared back at the pair in shock.  This was no longer funny.  "That clear some of the fog out of your brain,  Numb nuts?“  Hawk glared at Miguel with a look of malice on his face. 

Miguel got into a stance.  That was it.  He didn’t care what was going on. He was going to kick Hawk’s ass and ask questions later.  "Come on…Man…you wanna go?!”  His head was spinning and he was blinking his eyes rapidly.  He swung wildly a couple of times not focused and Hawk easily dodged the swipes laughing around him. 

“I’ll give him this..he’s got some fight in him.”  Kreese said right next to him.  Miguel jumped out of the way of him.  He wasn’t going to be caught off guard again.  "Are you ready for your training to begin…little jumping bean?“  

"What the actual fuck are you talking about?”  Miguel said keeping his eyes trained on Hawk more than Kreese.  Hawk had strength behind his blows.  Miguel would have a harder time taking him down. 

Kreese snapped his fingers and out of no where, Miguel’s legs were swept out from under him.  He fell to the ground instantly and the wind was knocked out of him once again.  He felt his head hit the pavement. 

“I think it’s time for you to do some push-ups, Mr. Diaz.”  Kreese laughed as a third person came from the shadows of the gym biding her time.  Hawk looked up at her and smiled, curling his lip and nodding his head.  "Sixty on  your knuckles should do the trick.“  

Miguel had no time to think as a pair of feet came stomping at him quick.  He rolled out of the way as each foot came down hard, barely missing him.  He rolled up into a stance and looked to see that it was none other than Tory, still healing from her wounds from the fight at the school.  She had a look of malice on her face and she screamed fiercely and charged at him her hand balled into a fist and it looked like she was wielding her spiked bracelet.  Miguel grabbed her arm and spun her into Hawk who was approaching from the other side.  They both collided into the other with frustrated cries and they pushed themselves apart.  

Miguel was forced back into Kreese’s waiting arms.  He laughed in the scared boy’s ears.  "You know it would be easier if you didn’t fight it and joined forces with us.”  Kreese locked his hands in a vice grip around Miguel’s thin arms.

“Some recruitment program you got here…”  Miguel said in defiance.  "No wonder I haven’t seen these two jerks around the dojo lately.  What happened, Eli?  I can understand her…she didn’t really get to know him…but YOU?  How could you betray Sensei this way?“   He struggled against Kreese but he would not let him go.  "I’ll NEVER join forces with you guys…you know Sensei Lawrence teaches us the only way of fighting with honor!" 

"Oh…I think you’ll change your mind.  Especially after Hawk and Tory take their turns on you…and you’re right…this really isn’t about you joining the REAL Cobra Kai…this is getting even with ‘Sensei Lawrence’  for kicking me out…forcing me to leave…forcing me to give up what was rightfully mine in the first place.  Cobra Kai is nothing without me, its one true Sensei.”  

His grip tightened around Miguel’s arms in anger that he had been usurped by Johnny but not for long.  After the school fight a lot of his students abandoned him because they no longer trusted Johnny’s methods and sided with Kreese. Hawk and Tory were now his top students. 

The pair of vicious teens circled Kreese and Miguel like a couple of hyenas.  Their eyes were cold and full of hate and Miguel knew he was dead meat.  His head had cleared some what but he was in no shape to take on three people at once.  

“Are you prepared for the kind of death you’ve earned, little man?”  Hawk said stepping up in front of Miguel and staring him down.  There was nothing of Eli left in his eyes…but there was in his comments.  Miguel almost laughed out loud if he knew he wasn’t about to meet his maker. 

“Watch Star Trek much, Lore?”  Which promptly earned him a rapid two punch combo to his guts.  "OHHH….“  He doubled over in agony.  

Tory stepped up to him looking like he had run over her cat or something.  The hate in her eyes was palpable.  "Tory…why are you doing this?" 

“Why don’t you ask your girlfriend?”  She slapped him cutting his lip and letting the blood  splatter on her clothes.  She executed a perfect spin-kick to his face and Miguel felt a tooth loosen.  Kreese tossed the boy way from him and motioned to the other two. 

“No mercy…”  

They spent the better half of an hour taking turns kicking and punching and beating on Miguel without signs of tired or letting up.  Miguel tried his best to defend himself but they were both coming at him from different sides and when one would stop the other would start up.  He felt his ribs snap.  He felt  something wet dripping down his forehead.  He tried every trick he knew but they had their strength and he did not.  "Stop doing this…“  He gasped every word was on fire.  His chest burned. His legs ached.  He thought of his mother.  He thought of his Yaya.  He just wanted to go home.  This had to be a nightmare. 

**_Is it over yet  
Let me in _ **

"Join our side…and this will all be over.” Kreese said from a distance.  He put a stop to nothing.  Just standing there with his arms folded…watching his students destroy Johnny’s number one student.  The one he loved like his own son. 

Tory had him by the throat. She smiled a toothy victorious smile and turned Miguel’s head toward Kreese.  "Tell the man your answer, Miggy…and this will all be over.“  

"Do it, Diaz…I’m getting tired of kicking your ass…I got other shit to do." 

Miguel was exhausted.  His lip was bleeding onto the floor.  He was choking from the vice grip that Tory had on his neck.  His eyes widened as Kreese came into his field of vision.

"Go to hell…” Miguel spat his words out with his blood, swallowing hard around Tory’s hand.  

“Wrong answer, Mr. Diaz.”  Kreese said, disappointed with a clicking of his tongue.  He turned his back on the three of them silently giving the others permission to finish the job.  

**_So sacrifice yourself_  
And let me have whats left  
I know that I can find  
The fire in your eyes **


	3. Chapter 3

**_I’m going all the way_  
Get away  
You take the breath right out of me  
You left a hole where my heart should be**

The sound of banging woke Johnny Lawrence up from an alcohol induced slumber.  He was dozing in and out of consciousness on his couch.  The TV was on some kind of infomercial that he had remembered watching about some shitty food processor.  He always got drawn in on the way they sliced and diced food with ease and then cut through something like a piece of metal like it was butter.  "Yeah…like that’d happen…"  

The banging got louder and he thought he could hear a woman’s voice on the other side of his door.  He groaned and rubbed the heel of his hand to his eye.  'What time was it?’   He looked at the flashing red light on the DVD player blinking 12:00 am over and over.  "Right…I need to set that.”  He muttered not bothering to learn how any time soon.  

“WHAT?!”  He said jerking his door open to a distraught Carmen Diaz.  He saw who it was and his demeanor instantly changed.  "Oh…I’m sorry…“  He said putting his hands up.  He didn’t want to be a jerk to one of the only ladies that were still nice to him.  He also kinda wanted to make sure he had a chance with her whenever he DID decide to finally ask her out on a date.  

"Johnny…I’m sorry…”  Carmen said, trying to peek inside the darkened room.  She only saw the flickering of the television set’s white glow.  "Have you seen Miggy?“  

Johnny was still trying to clear his head.  He shook some of the cobwebs out and opened the door for Carmen to come in.  He flicked on the light switch and watched her walk inside.  He could see that she was nervous and increasingly upset.  

"No…I haven’t seen Diaz since earlier this afternoon…when he stopped by the dojo.  What’s wrong?" 

Carmen sat on the edge of Johnny’s couch worrying a tissue.  She dabbed her eyes and looked at him.  "Well…I went to check on him when I got home from work about an hour ago.  He wasn’t in his room.  He has a curfew and he’s past it.  He doesn’t normally go anywhere without telling me or his Yaya." 

Johnny knew this to be true.  Miguel was a straight-laced kid and Johnny worked at making sure he treated his mother with respect.  It was getting to be the years were teens wanted their independence but he still wanted to make sure that the boy didn’t stray too far from what he knew was right. 

"Did he leave a note?" 

"Nothing…”  Carmen started tearing up again.  Johnny went to sit next to her and tentatively put an arm around her shoulder.  

“Don’t worry about it.  He probably went down to the dojo to train.”  Even he thought it was absurd being that it had to be well past midnight. 

“Why would he do that?” Carmen said reiterating his thoughts. 

“I dunno…but if it makes you worry less, I’ll go on over there and see if he’s there…then I’ll kick his ass.”  Johnny said, but stopped short.   She looked at him with a frown but brushed it off.  She knew he loved him like a son. 

“I’m coming with you." 

"No…just go back inside and I’ll get him.  Then you can ground him till the cows come home." 

Carmen let out a shaky laugh and nodded her head.  They both stood up and headed toward the door.  Johnny walked her back over to her apartment and put a hand on the small of her back.  "I’ll bring him home." 

He got into his charger and revved it up.  It was way too late to be making that kind of noise, but Johnny had more pressing matters on his mind.  He was starting to think what would have made Diaz be gone from his house a this time of night.  He didn’t want to put the two and two together in his mind.  He knew that Kreese was still lurking around…taking his students…plotting and planning.  He hoped that this was something more innocent and less sinister.  He just had a feeling in his gut.  

He got to his dojo in less than ten minutes.  Already he knew something was wrong.  He could see from the blinds that there was a light on…somewhere.  The feeling in his gut intensified.  He got out of his car.  He hoped it was just Miguel in there after all…thinking…needing quiet time…doing anything but what he thought could be happening. 

He hesitantly went to the door and pulled his hand back.  It was slightly cracked.  This was not good.  He probably should call the police.  Then he thought better of it.  The way the LAPD was…it would take them two weeks to make a decision…he could handle this shit better on his own.  

Nothing was disturbed on the inside.  It was dark except for the security light coming from his office and he hit the main switch by the door.  Everything lit up in sections when the fluorescent bulbs flickered on sections at a time.

"Diaz are you here?” Johnny called out.  His hands were at the ready in case someone sprung out from the back ready to attack.  Why would he think that all of the sudden? 

No reply met him and no one emerged.  He spotted something on the ground a few feet away.  He carefully approached it and bent down.  It was a white handkerchief.  He picked it up and an odor was coming off of it.  He sniffed and quickly tossed it away from him. His head started to get dizzy.  That was not good at all.  He saw something glinting in the light and reached down and picked up a key.  It looked like the key that he had given Miguel to the dojo a few months back.  Johnny swallowed hard and ran to his back office.  He looked around.   His worst fears were confirmed.  There was a half smoked cigar butt on his desk, the ashes tapped out onto his magazine.  Johnny froze.  Kreese had him.  

He tried to think back to the places where he might have taken him.  Johnny knew he was out for revenge.  Because he had shamed him in front of his students.   Because he had kicked him out.  Because taking two of his best students and handful of others was not enough for him.  He wanted to humiliate him further.  Show him that he would always have the upper hand.   Johnny grit his teeth and punched his fist in his other hand.  He thought they might be at the parking lot of the All Valley where Kreese choked him out.  Then he thought…too simple.  He thought back to some of the first lessons Kreese taught him as a boy…around Miguel’s age…maybe younger.  "Of course…“  He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.  Then suddenly a wave of panic washed through him.  "Oh…shit.”  

He raced out of the dojo as fast as he could and head off toward the gymnasium.  The downfall of Kreese was that Johnny had learned everything about the man.  He was a monster that trained him to be a monster…and the monster had left behind a few habits and tricks that would forever be his MO.  He was bound to be there.  He was one hundred percent sure of it.  

**_I’m waiting_  
I’m hating  
Realize  
Start hiding**

Miguel had not experienced this kind of pain in all the years of his life.  Not even when Kyler and his bunch of dumb jerks took it out on him last year in school.  Not even during his intense training sessions where Johnny showed him no mercy with a strategically placed baseball.  Not even when he had taken earlier fights with Hawk and Tory.  This pain was for real.  This one hurt him in so many ways.  He couldn’t stop thinking that this was his boy.  The one he had knew to be a totally different person than the insane person tearing into him now.  He couldn’t even take a successful breath without another kick to the ribs, another punch to the face.  When Hawk let up he was tossed to the other person that destroyed him as of late.  

He had had feelings for Tory.  They were together before his feelings for Sam never really disappeared but grew stronger when she reaffirmed that she still liked him.  He had every intention of letting Tory down easily.  Telling her they could still be friends and hang out and be cool.  This was not the person in front of him now.  She was demonstrating every known technical kick and punch that Hawk was yelling out to her to administer to his body.  He felt blow after blow.    
It wasn’t that Miguel didn’t try to fight back.  At first he did.  At first he got a few good kicks in…a few good hits.  But at that point they were not taking turns.

They were double teaming him and beating him down until he couldn’t do anything but curl up in a ball on his side.  Hawk made him stand up and held him, while Tory dished out the pain.  He thought in the back of his mind, why wouldn’t Kreese put a stop to any of this.  If they killed him…they would all go to jail.  When would this stop?  

“No more…”  He had repeated several times.  He knew that he was in desperate need of a hospital and that he was coughing up blood.  This was not good.  Tory took a step back after she had seen that he was throwing it up on his shirt. 

 "Maybe we should stop…“ She looked at Hawk.  There was nothing left of Eli inside.  

"No Mercy."  Hawk repeated Kreese's earlier words.

He took a running leap at Miguel and all Miguel saw was his fist heading toward his head.  He knew that he wouldn’t wake up after this.  He knew it was aimed right for his nose and would go straight to his brain.  He thought of his mom.  He thought of his Yaya and all the meals she would make and how they sat together at the table.  He thought of Sam and her pretty face.  He thought of Johnny, the dad he had always wanted.  He had about two seconds to tell them all goodbye.

A loud yell came from out of no where…from the shadows and a figure tackled Hawk out of midair.  It couldn’t have been choreographed better if it was planned that way.  There was one opportunity and it was taken.  The body collided with Hawk’s and tossed him  into the pool.  He turned and looked at the girl who was barely holding Miguel up.  He was drooping heavily in her arms and she took one look at his defender and dropped him to the ground, taking a few steps back.  She lunged at him but was picked up in mid-jumped and kicking and squirming was also quickly deposited into the pool along with a sputtering Hawk.  

The figure stood on the edge of the pool looking down at them both.  They stayed…treading water…too afraid to come out but not afraid enough to hurl insults.  "That’s a pussy bitch move, Sensei….coming to do Diaz’ dirty work for him.”  Hawk slapped the water with his fist.  

“One on one fighting…is acceptable….two on one….you’re asking for too much…especially when you cheat.  There’s no honor in that." 

"It doesn’t matter we beat the shit out of him…and just so you know…we’ll keep beating the shit out of him every chance we get.  This isn’t over."  

"It might be over for you two for a while.”  Johnny said indicating the police officers standing at the doorway to the gym.  He had called them on the way over and for once he was glad they had responded without question.  They hauled the two of them out of the pool and escorted their wet dripping bodies out of the gym.  They were both shouting for Kreese to show himself and defend them and take the blame for their behavior.  He was no where to be found. 

A police officer was leaning over Miguel checking his injuries and phoning in an ambulance.  Johnny went over to him and knelt down.  "You know you’re an idiot, right?“  He said affectionately to the boy and examined the cut above his eye. 

"Gee…thanks.  Those were just the words of comfort I needed from you at this time.”  Miguel gasped and wheezed his words.  

“I’d never call  you to go anywhere at midnight.  I’m usually drunk off of my ass around that time.”  Johnny laughed and gingerly ran a hand through his hair. 

“I didn’t think about that.”  Miguel said a small smile playing on his lips.  The med techs came into the room and helped him onto the gurney.  "What are you going to tell my mom?“  

"Oh…I think you’re pretty much busted…” Johnny said patting his shoulder.  "But I think  you’re gonna live long enough to tell her yourself.“  

"Thanks, Sensei…”  Miguel said…a tear in his eye.  "What are you going to do about Kreese?“  

"I’ll settle the score with him.  Don’t worry about that. I have a feeling he might be put out of business soon enough.  Not too many dojos can survive if they have a representation of violence and brutality that his exhibits.  He’s dug his own grave.  But I’ll never let him touch you again. I promise." 

"I believe you, Sensei.  Thank you for saving me." 

"Anytime, son."  

**_You gotta fight just to make it through  
‘Cause I’ll be the death of you_ **

**_  
*stay tuned for part 2 - Dance with the Devil._ **


End file.
